


Of Chicken and Cheese

by amagiri



Category: DBSK | Tohoshinki | TVfXQ | TVXQ
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-12
Updated: 2014-07-12
Packaged: 2018-02-08 13:42:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1943316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amagiri/pseuds/amagiri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Changmin gives up his Friday evening to help a clueless Yunho learn how to cook.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Chicken and Cheese

There are a lot of things that Shim Changmin would like right now. A drink. A Michelin 3-star restaurant in the heart of downtown Seoul. Hell, he'd even be willing to ride the subway for 20 minutes to eat at that really good French restaurant again.

Instead, he's here.

His situation is vaguely reminiscent of dealing with his grandparents. Just as he is a computer wizard to them for simply owning a smartphone, there are people out there who think being a restaurant critic involves being a talented chef. This offends his best friend Kyuhyun greatly, who is a Certified Sommelier working at an upscale steak house.

"Man, all you have to do is complain about poor service and underdone food and people think you're some kind of culinary genius. I had to shell out money and take a test!" he would gripe, prompting Changmin to reply with, 

"Whatever. Just smell the wine, tell them where it's from and they'll think you're a magician."

Changmin thinks his current predicament must be a result of Kyuhyun's thinly veiled indignation at all the times he's been called a magician (sure enough, not all those times have come from Changmin either). He's being begged to give cooking lessons to a friend of Kyuhyun's coworker Donghae. Apparently, Donghae had been asking around for a teacher as a favor, and Kyuhyun had oh-so-helpfully offered Changmin up as a sacrifice.

As a bachelor who's long tired of instant meals, Changmin does actually know how to cook. And considering how much he eats, it often turns out to be cheaper as well. He sticks to simple recipes without a lot of hard-to-find ingredients and complex steps, and he's content with that. People might think otherwise due to his job as restaurant critic for a local lifestyle magazine, but he's not that picky of an eater. At the very least, he finds that a good assortment of condiments can cover most of his dishes shortcomings. Pickled vegetables, chili oil, salt…

In any case, he's made food for his best friend in the past and even been complimented about it, so he knows this gig isn't about humiliation. 

Just torture.

"Tell him I'm busy," Changmin protests over the phone.

He can practically envision Kyuhyun grinning ear to ear on the other end. "Shim Chwang, it's too late. I'm cancelling our plans on Friday so that you can help this guy."

Changmin rolls his eyes. "You're so virtuous."

"Yeah, I know."

The hapless person in question is someone Changmin has met before, but only once and in passing. His name is Jung Yunho, and he makes his living as a back-up dancer for various idol groups. Beyond that, Changmin knows nothing. They crossed paths a couple months ago at a party for their mutual friend Heechul. There had been some quick introductions, barely audible over the bass in the club, and then they had moved on. Honestly, Changmin would have forgotten the other man's name by now had it not been for the way his hips had moved on the dance floor that night. Yunho was fit, as expected for a professional dancer, and Changmin had admired everything from his thighs to his biceps while seated at the bar overlooking the floor.

Changmin huffs to himself as he gets off the phone with Kyuhyun. He'd much rather watch this Jung Yunho shake his ass than teach him how to cook to impress someone else. But with a resigned sigh, he gets to tidying up his apartment. This cooking lesson is going to be at his place because 1) he already has the equipment, and 2) he doesn't trust a grown man who doesn't know how to cook to have a clean kitchen.

While he busies himself arranging magazines on the coffee table and putting his video games back into their rightful places, Changmin considers what kind of food he could possibly teach a novice to make. He mentally flips through different regional cuisines like pages in a book, thinking about what kinds of things he's made before. Korean? Might be too common. French? Too hard.

He's on his knees wiping down the coffee table when it hits him.

Chicken Parmesan.

It's a dish that can be baked, meaning that Yunho won't be trying to figure out if it's done or not while cooking in a skillet. There are hardly any precise measurements needed, especially for the dredging, and marinara sauce from a jar is perfectly acceptable to use without seeming like he's taking too many pre-made shortcuts. The hardest part would just be prepping the chicken.

With a plan in mind, he writes up a shopping list and heads out to the grocery store.

 

6:00 on Friday rolls around, and Changmin finds himself unexpectedly nervous. He's never had to teach someone else how to cook. Sitting on the couch, he runs his hands anxiously along his thighs. He's wearing an apron that he's alternated taking off and putting back on at least 5 times in the last 10 minutes. A gift from Kyuhyun, it's printed with a bunch of different grapes used in wines and their names. He can't decide whether he looks practical or stupid.

Practical wins when the doorbell rings and he still has it on. Changmin rushes over to the door and has to force himself to stop and take a deep breath before opening it slowly and calmly.

Jung Yunho beams at him from the entrance. "Hi, Shim Changmin, right? We met at Heechul's party?"

Changmin nods. "Yeah, I kind of remember," he lies. "Jung Yunho?" 

"Yeah, you remembered right," Yunho replies eagerly. 

_He's like a puppy_ , Changmin thinks to himself as he steps away to let him in. "Come inside."

Yunho walks in and leaves his shoes at the entrance. He takes a brief look around the studio apartment before his eyes land on the kitchen. The ingredients have already been laid out across the counter to make this lesson quick and easy. 

"Thanks again for doing this," Yunho says, turning to face Changmin with a bright smile. "I really appreciate it."

"Ah no, it's nothing. Don't worry about it," Changmin replies quickly, brushing off the way Yunho's grin has made his heart jump. Seems like his handsome face was a detail that Changmin forgot to store in memory. "So do you want to start now?"

"Sure. Do I get an apron too?" Yunho asks, pointing to Changmin's current state of dress.

Changmin looks down at himself, then up at Yunho's black graphic tee. "Yeah, probably a good idea." He heads into the kitchen and bends down to root through the bottom drawer next to the sink. He pulls out an apron from beneath a set of pot holders from his mother. Instead of grape varieties, this one shows a cow with all the different cuts of meat written on it. Straightening up, he turns and tosses it Yunho, who just kind of lets it drop to the floor.

"Oops," Yunho laughs as he reaches down to pick it up. "So, what are we making tonight, chef?"

The playful title earns him a smile from Changmin. "Chicken Parmesan. The recipe is pretty simple." He's already made an extra copy to give to Yunho later. "Ready to start?"

Apron now on, Yunho puffs out his chest and presses his fists against his hips, striking a pose reminiscent of Superman. "Ready."

Changmin raises an eyebrow, but his expression suggests that he's holding in a snicker. Before he can burst out laughing, he turns away and washes his hands, then heads to the cutting board on the adjacent counter. "Okay, so step 1," he says, "You want to prepare the chicken breasts. They come prepackaged, but sometimes they still have tendons attached. You want to remove them before you do anything else with the chicken."

Yunho nods intently. "Got it."

"Sometimes you can just pull it off," Changmin continues, "Otherwise, you can just cut away a piece of the chicken." He picks up a knife and offers it to Yunho. He debated for some time beforehand whether it was better to give him the dull one or the sharp one. Dull would presumably be better in the case that his hand slipped a bit, but it would also make cutting food a pain in the ass and possibly lead to such mishaps. In the end, he went with the sharp.

Picking up the duller knife, Changmin begins to demonstrate. His breast turns out to be pretty clean, with only a tiny bit of tendon that he cuts away. "Like that," he says, turning to Yunho expectantly.

Holding his knife tight in one hand, Yunho approaches the cutting board. He gets in close, pressing his shoulder to Changmin's, and starts inspecting his chicken breast. Changmin is startled by the casual contact, but he stubbornly forces himself not to move away. His arms feels flabby compared to Yunho's well-toned bicep brushing against him. He guesses he shouldn't feel surprised; Yunho spends his workweek dancing up a sweat while Changmin's job involves sitting down to sample a bunch of food and then sitting down to write about it.

"Looks good," Changmin blurts, suddenly remembering he's here to teach and not to fawn over the other man's perfect physique. "Sometimes you'll want to cut the chicken into smaller pieces, but it's okay to leave them whole for what we're doing."

"Got it," Yunho affirms. "What's next?"

"Next, you want to dip the chicken in egg. It's just the yolks and whites mixed together. Afterwards, cover them in breadcrumbs. Which one do you want to do?"

Yunho cocks his head thoughtfully. "I'll take the breading I guess."

Changmin grins mischievously. "I was hoping you'd say that."

"Wait, why?"

"Oh, you'll see."

Two chicken breasts later, Yunho gets it. 

"Urgh, it's all stuck to my fingers," Yunho whines, trying to scrape breadcrumbs off his hands and back into the bowl. He's been coating the chicken successfully, along with his own digits.

"Yeah, it's a pain. It's even worse when you're cooking by yourself."

Yunho looks up from his hands. "Do you do that a lot?"

"What, cooking alone?" Changmin shrugs. "I guess so. Sometimes I'll make food and Kyuhyun will bring wine to go with, but that's about it."

The two of them do the last two chicken breasts together and place all four of them in a glass pan. Changmin had started pre-heating the oven before Yunho's arrival, and it pinged to inform them it was ready sometime during their preparations.

"Damn breadcrumbs," Yunho curses with a scowl.

Changmin laughs and beckons Yunho to join him at the sink. "Just scrub it off." He fumbles awkwardly to flip the hot water on using the back his hand while Yunho deals with his own difficulties caused by a bottle of soap. 

Soon enough, their hands are clean, although it takes Yunho significantly longer to finish. They put the chicken into the oven and set the timer for 20 minutes.

"When the timer rings, pour the marinara sauce over the chicken and cover the top with cheese. Then it's another 10 minutes in the oven to finish," Changmin instructs. "That's all."

"That's not so bad," Yunho replies as they both take a seat on Changmin's couch, aprons now forgotten somewhere in his kitchen.

Changmin smiles to himself. He's pleased that cooking lesson has been going so smoothly and that his Friday night isn't going to waste after all. Yunho is good company, both easy to approach and easy on the eyes, and Changmin is actually enjoying their conversations. They talk about work at first, each fueled by mutual curiosity about the other's industry, then turn to other topics like pop music and which restaurants in Seoul they like to eat at.

20 minutes pass in what feels more like 5. When the timer starts to ring incessantly, Yunho jumps to his feet and declares that he can take care of things. Still, he repeats the steps out loud as he does them so that Changmin can follow along from the couch. Yunho is equal parts charming and cute, and it's a shame that this is all so that he can turn around and woo someone else. Thinking of this, Changmin hurriedly looks away from the kitchen.

Just a few seconds of no supervision pass before Yunho yelps in pain.

"Ow ow ow ow," he chants, shaking his right arm around wildly.

Changmin rushes over. "What happened?"

Yunho cringes. "Hit one of the oven racks." He tries to touch the affected area but recoils sharply.

"Put it under water," Changmin fusses, grabbing Yunho by the hand and dragging him over to the sink. Yunho hisses as the stream rushes over the light burn, but eventually it turns into a sigh of relief.

Yunho hangs his head. "I'm so clumsy."

"Happens to everyone," Changmin reassures. "Once I completely spaced and touched a pan that had just come out of the oven with my bare hands." Yunho makes a horrified face. "I had to wear band aids on all my fingers for a few days." That was also the time that Kyuhyun fed him his meals out of pity, but he doesn't mention that embarrassing detail.

"Err…I think I'll be okay?" Yunho jokes weakly.

Changmin smiles. "Of course you will." He moves to pull his hand away and grab a dish towel, but Yunho halts it, covering it with one of his own. Startled, Changmin looks over at the other man.

"Actually, can I admit something? Since we're almost done cooking?" Yunho asks, his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallows hard. Changmin nods, so he continues. "I-I actually don't have anyone to impress," he stammers. "Except you, that is."

Changmin's heart skips a beat. "What?"

Yunho doesn't quite meet his gaze. "The cooking thing was a stupid plan that Donghae came up with. I asked Heechul if you were going to dance at his party, and I guess I must have looked really disappointed when he said you didn't like dancing because then he somehow found out that you were single and told me to ask you out.

"But then I didn’t think you would remember me and I would just be some weird guy who was asking you out after talking to you for less than a minute, so Donghae got your friend Kyuhyun in on it and they hatched a plan with Heechul to have you teach me how to cook but didn't tell me until you had already agreed."

He has to take a deep breath after it all pours out, quickly and stream-of-consciousness-like. "Anyway," he continues. "I feel really bad that this is some kind of fake first date and that you have to cook for it on top of that. I understand if you're mad and don-"

Changmin kisses him. It's forceful and demanding, and Yunho cries out from surprise before coming to his senses and returning it.

When they pull apart, Changmin is grinning from ear to ear. "One, I am going to kill Kyuhyun," Changmin says with a pleased expression that makes him look vaguely disturbed. "And two, I'll forgive you if you do the dishes."

Yunho smiles. "Deal."


End file.
